The Leonard Building: A Testament To Modern Architecture

posted Oct 3, 2014, 2:08 AM by Viktor Zólyomi

The following article was penned by Jonathan Parker and was originally published in the Con City Times.

If you've taken a walk in the New East Side of Con City in the past months, a notable structure may have caught your eye. Standing 480 feet tall as the new symbol of the New East Side, a brand new skyscraper dominates the eastern half of the city. Its name: the Leonard Building. Its purpose: to boost the economy, encourage tourism, and improve the image of Con City.

Thirty floors of concrete, steel, and glass, the Leonard Building rises to the heavens as a proud monument of the modern age. It should be noted that, despite its impressive size, the massive structure stands out in the city for reasons quite other than its height. While it is the tallest building in the New East Side it cannot compete with the tallest skyscrapers of the Downtown. Rather, its unique and futuristic look and the visionary manner of its construction are what lend it an exceptional, nearly mythical aura. Named for one of the founders of Con City, this new skyscraper pays homage to traditions while being a perfect display of modern technology.

The city has high hopes for the Leonard Building as a center of commerce. Spacious offices are available on almost every floor and a ten level deep garage beneath the building provides parking opportunities for business owners and clients alike. It houses numerous luxury apartments at the penthouse level, offering the most devoted businessmen the chance to literally live in their office. The opening ceremony was attended by the high society of Con City and the high attendance rate proved that there is already tremendous interest in the building.

“About half of the apartments in the penthouse were sold before the ceremony started.” the Mayor of Con City explained after the unveiling. “We have many other businessmen lined up for the remaining apartments. At this rate, we may have to build a few extra floors.”

The Mayor was understandably relieved by the positive reception of the unveiling, as the construction of the Leonard Building was a considerable investment for the City Council. It was also mired in controversy due to rumors of forced relocations in the area prior to constructions, not unlike the relocations in the old East Side many years ago. The Mayor denied all such rumors, stating that “no one was forced to relocate and every family that had to move was given ample compensation as well as a fine apartment that suits their needs nicely”. He also expressed his sadness regarding the protests that took place opposite the Leonard Building during the first hour of the unveiling ceremony.

“I really wish these luddites would understand the need for change.” he said in reference to the people and their “bring back the old East Side” signs. “If they had their way we'd all still be living in caves with no running water or central heating. I am rather pleased that Con City's finest were able to do their job and kept the peace.” Indeed, the Con City Police Department ejected the entire crowd of protesters from the scene with the aid of water cannons after the crowd started chanting “Leonard spins in his grave” and “**** the Mayor”. The disturbance was kept to a minimum.

During the ceremony the Mayor outlined the lengths to which the city went to ensure the safety and durability of the Leonard Building. The most modern Japanese anti-earthquake technology was licensed to ensure that the building would withstand even an earthquake of 9.5 on the Richter scale. While such powerful earthquakes have never been registered in Con City and earthquakes are in general quite rare in these parts, the city spared no expense on safety regardless, citing the importance of prevention. Likewise, state-of-the-art fire prevention systems were installed in the building from the top floor to the bottom of the garage. Arsonists will have a very hard time with this building.

“The Leonard Building is one hundred percent earthquake-proof, typhoon-proof, hurricane-proof, tornado-proof, and fire-proof.” the Mayor said in his speech. “This will be a new trend in modern construction. There will be no need for renovations if the construction is so durable that nothing can do any harm to the building. This structure will be the first of many to use this technology and it will last just as long as all the future skyscrapers will: until the end of time.”

The City Council has tremendous plans for the technology used for the construction of the Leonard Building. If the new symbol of the New East Side lives up to its expectations, the City Council will commission the construction of several other such skyscrapers throughout the city, most of them at least twice or thrice the size of the Leonard Building. “Our experts will re-evaluate the building in a year's time.” the Mayor explained. “If the report is satisfactory, construction of the new skyscrapers will begin immediately. I expect no problems, hence preparations for the constructions are already underway.”

Considering the lengths to which the City Council went to ensure the durability of the Leonard Building it is hard to imagine anything going wrong. Indeed, with state-of-the-art earthquake-prevention, wind-prevention, and fire-prevention installed, the Leonard Building will no doubt stand tall as the symbol of the New East Side for ages to come. Is this the beginning of a new era? Is this a glimpse of the future skyline of Con City? Time will tell, but if what we've seen and heard at the opening ceremony is any indication, the Leonard Building and its future siblings are here to stay and are set to define the landscape of future Con City.

Editor's note: This article was submitted to our journal the day after the opening ceremony of the Leonard Building. Due to the strict review policies of our journal, which are very much essential to ensure that we only give our readers the best-written and most informative articles, this work was not approved for publication until after the Leonard Building burned to the ground in the terrible accident that took place fourteen months after the opening ceremony. We must therefore emphasize that it was not our or the Author's intention to ridicule or criticize either the work of the architects, the builders, or even the Con City Fire Brigade. There is no way the Author could have foreseen the disaster, or the scandal that would surround the ongoing constructions in Con City as a consequence of the fire. We urge you to take no offense at what may well appear to be sarcasm in the article which is merely an unintentional coincidence to do with our strict publication policies. We hope you will continue to appreciate our hard work to bring you high-quality publications despite this unfortunate case of bad timing.

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